PhD studies in human rights

A weblog for students engaged in doctoral studies in the field of human rights. It is intended to provide information about contemporary developments, references to new publications and material of a practical nature.

Friday, 16 February 2018

There are still a small number of guest places available for our British Academy conference in March on 'Challenges to Judicial Independence in Times of Crisis'. Full details and a registration link are here. Book now to avoid disappointment!

Speakers include:
Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, Justice of the Supreme Court
Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, former Lord Justice of England and Wales
M Guy Canivet, former President, Cour de Cassation
Sir Konrad Schiemann, former Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Union
His Honour Jeremy Roberts QC, The Parole Board for England and Wales
Dame Sue Carr, High Court, Midland Circuit
Professor Fiona De Londras, University of Birmingham
Professor David Sklansky, Stanford University
Professor John Jackson, University of Nottingham
Professor Kate Malleson, Queen Mary University of London
Professor Ilias G. Anagnostopoulos, Athens Law School
Professor Martina Feilzer, Bangor University
Professor Raphaële Parizot, Université Paris-Nanterre
Professor Julian Petley, Brunel University London
Professor Vian Bakir, Bangor University
Dr Daniel Aguirre, University of Greenwich
Dr Moa Bladini, University of Gothenburg
Dr Lawrence McNamara, Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law and University of York
Dr Stephen Skinner, University of Exeter
Dr Dimitrios Giannoulopoulos, Brunel University
Lt. Col. Harry Mynors, Army Legal Service
Dr Yvonne McDermott Rees, Swansea University

We are delighted to welcome Dr. Michael Kearney, Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Sussex, for this guest post.

In welcoming students to a black letter international
crimes module, one of the initial, contextual, points worth emphasising is that
since the individuals brought before international courts do tend to have been
obviously responsible for serious crimes, we have to double down on our
commitment to the presumption of innocence. It’s useful to acknowledge, if only
by reference to logistics, the selectivity of international courts, and the
unease that only a few individuals from among a potentially huge cast in any
scenario are being prosecuted. It’s also helpful to flag up, how, since an
accused may have been quite remote or detached from the physical perpetration
of crimes, the appropriate interpretation and application of the various modes
of liability will be crucial to the outcome of a case.

Last week I asked LLM/MA students to read
the ICC’s August 2017 Arrest
Warrant, and subsequent statements made by
the OTP, in the case against Mahmoud Al-Werfalli in the situation in Libya. It
seemed a useful first case to review in a new module since it was both topical
and atypically straightforward: the accused was charged as a physical
perpetrator of murder as a war crime, so no need for convoluted engagement with
indirect coperpetration or the contextual elements of crimes against humanity. Considering
the executions in question had been recorded and videos of them posted online,
and the accused having been detained then released by his superiors, this could
be regarded as having been as straightforward a prosecution as the OTP would
get.

So straightforward in fact that the Arrest
Warrant, in addressing whether the evidence showed reasonable grounds to the
believe Al-Werfalli had committed a crime within the Court’s jurisdiction had
the following to say at para 28:

“Further, the
Chamber finds that Mr Al-Werfalli personally committed the murders described in
Incidents 1, 2, 3 and one of the murders described in Incident 7, and that he
ordered, as a superior to others in the Al-Saiqa Brigade, the commission of the
murders described in Incidents 4, 5, 6, and 19 of the murders described in
Incident 7. The Chamber is further satisfied that he acted with intent and
knowledge, and that he was aware of the status of the victims and of the
factual circumstances that established the existence of the non-international
armed conflict.”

To be clear, the paragraph continues in the
next sentence to note that the Chamber ‘therefore finds reasonable grounds to
believe that Mr Al-Werfalli bears individual criminal responsibility as a
direct perpetrator’, while the summing up declaration notes ‘alleged criminal
responsibility’. The OTP’s statement
following issuance of the warrant clearly asserts: ‘Mr al-Werfalli is presumed
innocent until proven guilty and the burden is on my Office to prove that he is
guilty of the crimes we allege he committed. My Office can only discharge that
burden if Mr al-Werfalli appears before ICC judges.’

Previously, in providing students with
examples of the type of legal reasoning which would result in their struggling
to pass a module, I reached for former Prosecutor Ocampo’s July 2010 Guardian
piece on the Arrest Warrant for Al Bashir. While the entire proceedings
revolved around the meaning of ‘reasonable grounds to believe’, Ocampo falsely asserted
that a man who had never been brought before a judge, had been found by the ICC
to be ‘deliberately inflicting on the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups
living conditions calculated to bring about their physical destruction.’

Much has been made of the purpose of
proceedings before the ICC’s Pre Trial Chambers, tending towards the consensus
that while crucial, this particular stage should not be understood as a
mini-trial. Introducing a case such as that against Al Werfalli, where the
evidence against him is so glaringly odius and obvious, should be the perfect
opportunity to illustrate, as per the OTP’s statement above, that the man
remains innocent until proven otherwise. It’s difficult, when introducing
students to the study of international criminal law, to have to somehow try and
explain how it is that ICC judges, in drafting this Warrant, could, to such a
degree, appear to violate that fundamental principle of criminal law which is
common knowledge to all laypersons.

Very pleased to have coedited this volume with my colleague
Meg. The concept, in our words:

Martin
Luther King, Jr. once said 'the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends
toward justice.' Testing the optimism of that claim were the many fits and
starts in the struggle for human rights that King helped to catalyze. The same
is true of other events in the last half-century, from resistance to apartheid
and genocide to equal and fair treatment in domestic criminal justice systems,
to the formation of entities to prevent atrocities and to bring their
perpetrators to justice. Within this display of myriad arcs may be found the
many persons who helped shape this half-century of global justice-and prominent
among them is William
A. Schabas. His panoramic scholarship includes dozens of books and hundreds
of articles, and he also has served as an influential policymaker, advocate,
and mentor.

This work honours William A. Schabas and his career with
essays by luminary scholars and jurists from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the
Americas. The essays examine contemporary, historical, cultural, and
theoretical aspects of the many arcs of global justice with which Professor
Schabas has engaged, in fields including public international law, human
rights, transitional justice, international criminal law, and capital
punishment.

In all, the book includes 29 contributions by 35 academics,
advocates, and jurists, as detailed in the table of contents below. Providing
jacket-cover testimonials were Steven
Kay QC, Philippe
Sands QC, Professor and former Ambassador David
Scheffer, and Judge Christine
Van den Wyngaert. We hope that you'll follow their recommendations and give
these important, substantive essays a very good read.

Human Rights
► Human Rights and International Criminal Justice in the Twenty First
Century: The End of the Post-WWII Phase and the Beginning of an Uncertain New
Era by M.
Cherif Bassiouni (He died at age 79 in September, just weeks after he
completed final changes on this essay; as posted,
our conference included a memorial to him. At the time of his death, he was
Emeritus Professor of Law, DePaul University College of Law; Honorary
President, Siracusa Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights; and
Honorary President, L'Association internationale de droit pénal.)
► William Schabas, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and
International Human Rights Law by Justice Thomas
A. Cromwell, Supreme Court of Canada, and Bruno
Gélinas-Faucher, formerly a law clerk on that court and now a Cambridge PhD
candidate
► The International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from
Enforced Disappearance, as a Victim-Oriented Treaty by Emmanuel
Decaux, Professor Emeritus, Université Paris 2 (Panthéon-Assas), and former
President, Committee on Enforced Disappearances
► The Politics of Sectarianism and its Reflection in Questions of
International Law & State Formation in The Middle East by Kathleen
Cavanaugh, Senior Lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National
University of Ireland Galway, and Joshua
Castellino, Professor of Law & Dean of the School of Law, as well as
the Business School, at Middlesex University, London

Capital Punishment
► International Law and the Death Penalty: A Toothless Tiger, or a
Meaningful Force for Change? by Sandra
L. Babcock, Clinical Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and Faculty
Director of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide
► The UN Optional Protocol on the Abolition of the Death Penalty by Marc Bossuyt, Fellow at
the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study, Emeritus Professor of the
University of Antwerp, Emeritus President of the Constitutional Court of
Belgium, and former Chairman of the UN Commission on Human Rights
► The Right to Life and the Progressive Abolition of the Death Penalty
by Christof
Heyns, formerly the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary executions from 2010 through 2016, and now a member of the UN Human
Rights Committee and Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of
Pretoria, Thomas
Probert, Research Associate, Centre of Governance & Human Rights,
University of Cambridge, and Tess Borden, Aryeh
Neier Fellow at Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union, and
former researcher for the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or
arbitrary execution
► Progress and Trend of the Reform of the Death Penalty in China by Zhao Bingzhi,
Dean of the College for Criminal Law Science of Beijing Normal University,
President of the Criminal Law Research Association of China, Vice-President of
the International Association of Penal Law, and President of that association's
Chinese National Group

International Criminal Law
► Criminal Law Philosophy in William Schabas' Scholarship by Margaret M.
deGuzman, Professor of Law at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law
► Is the ICC Focusing too Much on Non-State Actors? by Frédéric Mégret,
Associate Professor and Dawson Scholar, Faculty of Law, McGill University
► The Principle of Legality at the Crossroads of Human Rights and
International Criminal Law by Shane Darcy,
Senior Lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of
Ireland Galway
► Revisiting the Sources of Applicable Law Before the ICC by Alain Pellet, Emeritus
Professor at the University of Paris Nanterre, former Chairperson of the UN
International Law Commission, President of the French Society for International
Law, Member of the Institut de droit international, as well as Counsel and
Advocate before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal
for the Law of the Sea, and other forums
► The ICC as a Work in Progress, for a World in Process by Mireille
Delmas-Marty, Member, Institut de France, and Professor Emerita, Collège de
France de Paris
► Legacy in International Criminal Justice by Carsten
Stahn, Professor of International Criminal Law and Global Justice, Leiden
University
► Torture by Private Actors and 'Gold Plating' the Offence in National Law:
An Exchange of Emails in Honour of William Schabas by Andrew
Clapham, Professor of Public International Law at the Graduate
Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, and Paola Gaeta,
Professor of International Law and International Criminal Law at the Graduate
Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva

Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity
► Secrets and Surprises in the Travaux Préparatoires of the Genocide
Convention by Hirad Abtahi,
First Legal Adviser, Head of the Legal and Enforcement Unit, at the Presidency
of the International Criminal Court, and Philippa
Webb, Reader (Associate Professor) in Public International Law at King's
College London and a barrister at 20 Essex Street Chambers
► Perspectives on Cultural Genocide: From Criminal Law to Cultural
Diversity by Jérémie
Gilbert, Professor of International and Comparative Law, University of East
London
► Crimes Against Humanity: Repairing Title 18's Blind Spots by Beth Van Schaack,
Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights at Stanford Law School and
Visiting Scholar at the Center for International Security & Cooperation at
Stanford University
► A New Global Treaty on Crimes Against Humanity: Future Prospects by Leila Nadya Sadat,
James Carr Professor of International Criminal Law and Director of the Whitney
R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law, Special
Adviser to the ICC Prosecutor on Crimes Against Humanity, and Director of the
Crimes Against Humanity Initiative

Transitional Justice and Atrocity Prevention
► Justice Outside of Criminal Courtrooms and Jailhouses by Mark A. Drumbl,
Class of 1975 Alumni Professor of Law and Director, Transnational Law
Institute, Washington and Lee University School of Law
► Toward Greater Synergy between Courts and Truth Commissions in
Post-Conflict Contexts: Lessons from Sierra Leone by Charles Chernor
Jalloh, Professor of Law, Florida International University, and a member of
the International Law Commission
► International Criminal Tribunals and Cooperation with States: Serbia and
the provision of evidence for the Slobodan Milosevic Trial at the ICTY by Geoffrey Nice QC, a
barrister since 1971, formerly at the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia, and Nevenka Tromp,
Lecturer in East European Studies at the University of Amsterdam and former
member of the ICTY Leadership Research Team
► The Arc toward Justice and Peace by Mary Ellen O'Connell,
the Robert and Marion Short Chair in Law at the University of Notre Dame Law
School
► The Maintenance of International Peace and Security through Prevention of
Atrocity Crimes: The Question of Co-operation between the UN and regional
Arrangements by Adama
Dieng, UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of
Genocide, as well as former Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda and former Secretary-General of the International Commission of
Jurists

Justice in Culture and Practice
► Law and Film: Curating Rights Cinema by Emma
Sandon, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television at Birkbeck, University of
London, and a Research Fellow to the Chair for Social Change, University of
Johannesburg
► The Role of Advocates in Developing International Law by Wayne
Jordash QC, international human rights and humanitarian lawyer and founding
partner of Global Rights Compliance
► Bill the Blogger by Diane Marie Amann,
Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law and Faculty Co-Director of
the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of
Law

The Editorial Team

W. Schabas, Y. McDermott, J. Powderly, N. Hayes

William A. Schabas is professor of international law at Middlesex University in London. He is also professor of international criminal law and human rights at Leiden University, emeritus professor human rights law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights of the National University of Ireland Galway, and an honorary professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in Beijing and Wuhan University. He is the author of more than 20 books and 300 journal articles, on such subjects as the abolition of capital punishment, genocide and the international criminal tribunals. Professor Schabas was a member of the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Technical Cooperation in Human Rights and president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars. He serves as president of the Irish Branch of the International Law Association chair of the Institute for International Criminal Investigation. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Here is the full c.v.

Dr YvonneMcDermott is Senior Lecturer in Law at Bangor University, UK, where she is also Director of Teaching and Learning and Co-Director of the Bangor Centre for International Law. Yvonne is a graduate of the National University of Ireland, Galway (B. Corp. Law, LL.B.), Leiden University (LL.M. cum laude) and the Irish Centre for Human Rights (Ph.D.). Her research focuses on fair trial rights, international criminal procedure and international criminal law. She is the author of Fairness in International Criminal Trials (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Niamh Hayes has been the Head of Office for the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) in The Hague since September 2012. She is about to complete her Ph.D. on the investigation and prosecution of sexual violence by international criminal tribunals at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland Galway. She previously worked for Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice as a legal consultant, and as an intern for the defence at the ICTY in the Karadzic case. She has lectured on international criminal law and international law at Trinity College Dublin and, along with Prof. William Schabas and Dr. Yvonne McDermott, is a co-editor of The Ashgate Research Companion to International Criminal Law: Critical Perspectives (Ashgate, 2013). She is the author of over 45 case reports for the Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law and has published numerous articles and book chapters on the investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence as international crimes.

Joseph Powderly is Assistant Professor of Public International Law at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, Leiden University. Between September 2008 and January 2010, he was a Doctoral Fellow/Researcher at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, where he worked, among other projects, on a Irish Government-funded investigation and report into the possible perpetration of crimes against humanity against the Rohingya people of North Rakhine State, Burma/Myanmar. He is currently in the process of completing his doctoral research which looks at the impact of theories of judicial interpretation on the development of international criminal and international humanitarian law. The central thesis aims to identify and analyze the potential emergence of a specific theory of interpretation within the sphere of judicial creativity. Along with Dr. Shane Darcy of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, he is co-editor of and contributor to the edited collection Judicial Creativity in International Criminal Tribunals which was published by Oxford University Press in 2010. He has written over 80 case-reports for the Oxford Reports on International Criminal Law, as well as numerous book chapters and academic articles on topics ranging from the principle of complementarity to Irish involvement in the drafting of the Geneva Conventions. In December 2010, he was appointed Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed journal Criminal Law Forum. His research interests while focusing on international criminal and international humanitarian law also include topics such as the history of international law and freedom of expression.

Search This Blog

Interested in PhD studies in human rights?

Students interested in pursuing a doctorate in the field of human rights are encouraged to explore the possibility of working at Middlesex University under the supervision of Professor William A. Schabas and his colleagues. For inquiries, write to: w.schabas@mdx.ac.uk.